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FRIENDLY MESSENGER
November 2008This Month's Contents:
Beloved people of God at St. Peter’s, |
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The October meeting of St. Peter’s Church Council was held on October 18, 2008. The meeting started with Pastor Sara asking us all to think of a Bible passage or hymn that reminds us where we are now in our life at St. Peter’s. The responses were interesting and varied - the Gospel passage where Jesus tells us not to be anxious about worldly things but to seek first the kingdom of God; Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (we need to pray for guidance); Paul encouraging believers to persevere and “finish the race” the 23rd Psalm; Holy Saturday - the time between Good Friday and Easter when the disciples were awaiting the new life that was to come; the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Definitely food for thought.
Some things to look ahead to in November: November 16th will be our “Thanks to Julia Sabella” celebration for her wonderful generosity to our congregation. November 23rd will be a “Town Hall” after church.
Mayor Janice Allen has inquired if St. Peter’s would like to provide space for the preschool mandated by the state. We would receive money from the state for any improvements we would need to make in order to be up to code. The council members would like Ms. Allen to send more information in writing and will invite her to our November council meeting.
Pat Klatt showed us the new Communion ware purchased in memory of Art Klatt. This will be dedicated soon. (It’s beautiful!)
A report on the Future Task Force brought up a number of suggestions on where we might be going as a congregation. This is still the “brainstorming” phase. Pastor Sara has contacted the Synod Office to tell them about our current concerns and informed them that this task force was being formed. One idea was joining with another Lutheran church in the area. Pastor will contact Synod about possible congregations who may want to merge and ask for any other suggestions or considerations.
Committees: The Property Committee has been busy both inside and outside the church, trimming branches, repairing a broken window, turning on the furnace, moving the choir room to the first floor, and installing energy efficient spiral lights wherever feasible, about 33 bulbs in all. Chris ED - a new Sunday School year has started. It was discussed how to use the upcoming election as an opportunity to make known to the community what we are about. Suggestions included having coffee available to voters and putting some more information around - like posters on the walls. It was decided to have a hunger drive for FISH the last week in January and the first week in February.
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September 14, 21, and 28: a 3 week series on the book Novena in the Time of War.
October 12, 19, and 26: a 3 week series on Christians and the public life, focusing on (1) faith and politics, Lutheran perspectives, (2) our role as Christians in the public sphere, and (3) what issues are central to us as Lutherans.
November 9, 16, 23, and 30: a 4 week series on the Bible: Book of faith, in which we will explore (1) the Book of Faith Initiative, (2) how Lutherans read the Bible, (3) four different approaches to Bible study, and (4) learning while doing: a Bible study.
(Note: We will not meet the first Sunday of each month.)
God works in amazing ways through the generous and humble service of faithful people. In our newsletter each month we are going to share gratitude for the people who have done so much for our congregation in the past month. The purpose of this is for us to give praise to God for the many gifts and generous work of our community. If there is something or someone you want to thank and give praise to God for, please let the office know and we can include them here...
We thank God for:
Pat Shebey for sharing her Personal Reflection at worship during our Annual Stewardship Drive,
Juliet and Desmond Bascom for the wonderful Fellowship Time in celebration of their anniversary,
All who are making their pledges for 2009,
All who contributed to our Vision Appeal this past month,
Lutheran Men in Mission for continued work on keeping our building looking and working great,
Those who participated in preparing a meal for the Habitat for Humanity workers through CWU,
Barbara Henriksen and Odessa Lemley for representing our congregation at the annual NJ WELCA Convention,
The Plitz family and all who participated in the WELCA Yard Sale.
We give thanks to God for you, and for your willingness to share your many gifts!
The next time you shop, remember to buy a couple of extra cans for our food table in the narthex.
Thank you,
Ken Troy, LMM
A portion of the recycled phones are programmed to dial only 911 and donated to domestic violence survivors, elder and low-income people at risk, for use in emergencies.
So save your old cell phones as we will be collecting them starting in January.
Monetary donations are gratefully accepted, which go mainly toward the purchase of filler material.
We can always use helpers. Please see any Katie’s quilter. Who are our quilters? Here is the list: Lynn Blenderman, Pia Grant, Barbara Henriksen, Chris Zehrfuhs, Clara Jencik, Barbara Shebey, Ann Kircher, Odessa Lemley, Mary Ann Schwarz, and Judy Ziccardi. We are most fortunate to also have the talents of Ginger Smellie from Trinity Reformed Church and Betty Garguile from Dunellan Presbyterian. You do not need sewing experience, as our helpers fulfill lots of different jobs, from cutting squares, sorting them into patterns, sewing squares into tops, sewing backs, assembling tops, backs and fillers into quilts, and tying the quilts together with embroidery thread knots.
You will discover that the experience is not only rewarding, but also a lot of fun, too. And the quilts that are produced are just beautiful! These are wonderful things that will brighten up the life of an individual a world away, while also providing some much needed warmth, comfort, and protection from the elements. Why not talk to a member of Katie's Quilters today?
While it is true that we host the annual Palm Sunday Breakfast and the lenten Soup Fellowship, as well as sponsor fellowship once a month, we also actively support many other worthwhile causes. Some of these are financial, such as our contributions to Habitat for Humanity, Lutheran Social Services, Lutheran Association of Missionary Pilots (LAMP) and the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. We also collect food for FISH, and labels for the Rock Point Navajo Lutheran Mission School.
Among the labels we collect are the following:
Campbell soups and beans
Franco-American pasta and gravy products
Mrs. Paul’s frozen seafood products
Pepperidge Farm products
Prego spaghetti sauce
Swanson frozen foods
V8 products
General Mills “Box Tops for Education”
You can all help us by saving these labels and putting them in the kitchen or handing them to a WELCA member.
So bottom-line, please help us help others by saving the above. And please join us at our meetings so that we can contribute even more to our community.
Irene Plitz
President, WELCA
In June, 2007, our women delivered an additional 85 quilts to Lutheran World Relief center in Maryland. Food items for FISH, the local food bank, are continually collected and delivered. Thankoffering Sunday is held in November. Many other opportunities for fellowship and service are coming along. As you can see, our women are very active.
To find out how you can join in, and to find out what’s happening when, please talk to an active member, watch for announcements in the Sunday bulletin, or call the church office (908-754-0530) for further information and/or the name and phone number of the proper contact person. Our Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America look forward to welcoming you!
Work days at the church are also scheduled when a need arises. Each month, the men collect and deliver many bags of food to the local FISH program. Many other opportunities for fellowship and service are coming along.
As with the Women's Group, to find out how you can join in, and to find out what's happening when, please talk to an active member, watch for announcements in the Sunday bulletin, or call the church office (908-754-0530) for further information and/or the name and phone number of the proper contact person. Our Lutheran Men in Mission look forward to welcoming you!
Upon returning to the U.S., Karen founded AHA to help continue the support of EPES in Chile. At this time, EPES needs our support, as the declining U.S. dollar is having a devastating effect on organizations like EPES that receive much of their funding in U.S. dollars. The dollar is barely worth 450 Chilean pesos today, compared with 650 pesos 2 years ago.
There are Sundays available on the EPES chart, across from Pastor's office, for you to honor a loved one's memory, or someone's birthday. All of your donation of $20 goes directly to EPES in chile. Please remember to mark your envelope clearly for EPES.
Evelyn Troy, C.M.I.
ELCA World Hunger Appeal “In 2004, our church’s World Hunger Appeal celebrated its 30th anniversary - 30 years of bringing help and hope to people in need.” These are the words addressed to us in a letter from Mark S. Hanson, presiding Bishop of the ELCA. He goes on to say, “In this anniversary year, our church will be celebrating the work of the Appeal...Through your giving, you have been part of this mosaic of hope that comes through merging relief, sustainable development, advocacy, and education. Your gifts are part of a picture - of a church that is responding faithfully and effectively to its Lord’s command to feed those who are hungry and to seek justice for those who are oppressed.”
Please continue to be a part of this picture by giving generously to our church’s World Hunger Appeal.
Gifts can be given through St. Peter’s, or sent directly to ELCA World Hunger Appeal, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.
One simple way to read these texts is to ask yourself the following questions:
1. What does this piece of scripture tell me about God?
2. What is God up to in this text?
3. What does this text call me (or us) to do or to be?
These are some of the questions I pray and ponder as I prepare for my sermons each week, and perhaps as you begin to ask them with me. We can grow in deeper conversation and connection with God and God's mission in the world. And you might even have a deeper experience of worship on Sunday morning.
Week before November 2, All Saints Sunday:
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22 (9)
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
Week before November 9, 26th Sunday after Pentecost:
Amos 5:18-24
Psalm 70 (5)
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
Week before November 16, 27th Sunday after Pentecost:
Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18
Psalm 90:1-8 [9-11] 12 (12)
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30
Week before November 23, Christ the King:
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 95:1-7a (7)
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46
In this time when we at St. Peter’s are working together as people of God to discern just what our future holds as a community of believers, it is well for us to heed St. Paul's advice: “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
All right. But just how do we do that? Maybe we had better first ask, “just what are we to be transformed into?” St. Paul, again, “And we, who...all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into this likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18) “I live not now with my own life, but Christ lives within me.” (Gal. 2:19)
So now that we know what - or Who - we are to transformed into, just how are we to go about it? It’s really quite simple. (not easy, but simple.) If we want to be like someone, we must get to know him really well. “For my determined purpose is that I may know Him (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly)...as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness...” (Phil. 3:10)
If we want to get to know someone really well, we must spend time with them. And that doesn’t just mean one hour on Sunday morning. If you love and admire someone, don’t you want to spend time with them each day? Listen to them? Talk to them? It’s no different with Jesus. We need to spend time with Him every day. We have two marvelous ways to do that - through reading God’s Word in the Bible and through prayer.
I strongly feel that it’s absolutely vital that if we want to know God’s will for us as a congregation, we must spend more time talking with Him - individually and together. Pastor and I were brainstorming the other day about when we could hold prayer group meetings. It was so hard to find a time that would suit the needs of a number of people since everyone has such different busy schedules. So we came up with a couple alternative ideas. First, let’s make a commitment to start with prayer each time we meet together for any reason. (choir, Katie’s Quilters, Men in Mission, etc.) Second, let’s make an individual commitment to pray each day. Start with praise to our wonderful Lord. (The Psalms are full of great praise.) Then bring the needs of the congregation before Him. Then spend some time listening for His response. Who knows what wonderful things can happen!!
Yours in Christ,
Linda Nietman
